Avoid Lightning Strike and Power Surge Damage By Top Dallas Electrician

By
ElectricMan
|June 12, 2017

Every summer, more and more homes experience outages in their electric
systems. As a top Dallas Electrician, my electricians and I see the effects
of these outages every day. They can be devastating, and cause a lot of
damage. In fact, the insurance industry pays out over $1 billion in damages
annually in claims caused by outages and power surge damage. Most outages are caused by the weather, but there are different kinds
of weather can cause an outage. This even includes weather that doesn’t
produce lighting damage like the massive ice storms we saw during Super
Bowl week this year that left hundreds of thousands without power (and,
more importantly, without heat!) during one of the worst winter storms
in years. Summer storms can produce devastating tornadoes that can knock
out power for miles around the area they touch down in, and many hurricanes
begin to build in the summer and early fall, causing catastrophic results
even outside of the disaster zone. Hurricane Ike left over two million
people without power when it hit southeast Texas in 2008, and not all
of them were in the impact zone.

Not every outage comes from something as dramatic as a hurricane or tornado.
A lightning strike, even as far as half a mile away, can potentially cause damage to your delicate
electrical equipment and appliances. Often, large-scale outages can occur when lightning
strikes a transformer.

Learn how to protect your home and appliances from lightning strike and
power surge damage.

Outages don’t just occur because of bad weather: many outages are
caused by power equipment switching to accommodate the heavy load people
put on the power grid. Our power grid is already having trouble with its
current load, and the problem only grows as more and more people use more
and more electricity. Summer in Dallas and Fort Worth is the perfect examples.
It’s when people are running their air conditioners constantly.
This puts an incredible load on local and state power grids. This leads
to government agencies putting out warnings almost every summer about
potential power outages, threatening brownouts and blackouts unless people
conserve energy.

These outages aren’t damaging in themselves, but they leave open
the possibility for electrical power surge damage. You’ve probably
noticed that when the power comes back on after an outage, it often flickers
on and off quickly as the power grid attempts to get the electricity flowing
back into your lines. This stop-and-start action creates surges that can
easily damage unprotected electronics or appliances. Having a nice TV
damaged like this is a very expensive hassle, and you can imagine how
much more expensive and uncomfortable it could be if the surge takes out
your air conditioner and refrigerator!

So, what can you do to keep power outages and power surges from affecting you?

It’s extremely important that you use surge protectors on outlets
with electrical equipment to help protect from the effects of outages
and lightning damage.

It’s also important that your electrical panel is wired correctly
with a built-in surge protector at the panel, and that your wiring is
up to code. Top Dallas Electricians can make sure your home or business
is prepared for the effects of these outages, and that your valuables
are protected.

Even better, there are generator options that can allow your home and business
to keep their power on even when the grid fails, avoiding the problem
of outages and surges entirely!

Some of these options can even help you save money on your electric bill
without the hassle of gas, fumes, or noise pollution.

For more information about a generator solution for your home or business,
check out ElectricMan’s blog post on
indoor generators. When needing to know how to prevent power surge damage or electrical
assistance with power you can trust ElectricMan to get the job done right.
We’re available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so don’t ever
hesitate to give us a call!